Books in Bed

The Last of the Easy Readers – Surprising!

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites /

I’ve finished all of the books from the Easy Readers category of the Cybils Shortlist, yippee! And that deserves an  extra yippee because besides the somewhat boring but nicely illustrated Cork & Fizz: The Babysitters, I actually enjoyed this year’s Down Girl and Sit: Home on the Range. It had prairie dogs! I laughed all of the way through it.

This was a good year for the easy readers. I actually loved a Down Girl and Sit and an Elephant and Piggie book. (That doesn’t mean I want to see either in next year’s list. Let’s not press our luck, ok?)

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The Summer Without Men

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Earlier in the week, I was looking for something to read that was either short, funny, or a quick read because nothing on the library stack was really screaming “Read ME Next!”. The Summer Without Men looked like it might work. Short book, interesting title, interesting cover, interesting paper, and the author has an interesting name.

Two pages later I realized that while this book is short, it’s not really funny or a quick read. It was downright serious and, gasp, literary! So a book I thought would take me a day – took a week. Now that’s not a bad thing, it just wasn’t what I was interested in at that moment. With no significant time to read and fried brain cells when I did have time to read, this book would have been better read on the weekend because it wouldn’t have taken me nearly as long.

50 something woman (who happens to be a poet and a Colombia professor) has a bit of a breakdown after her husband tells her he’s having an affair (with a younger woman, obviously.) She spends the summer in a small town, teaching a poetry class to pre-teen girls (with all of the mean girl madness that goes with something like that), in the house next door is a young mom of two whose husband is an ass, and her mom is in a retirement facility nearby where we also meet some wonderfully interesting “swans”.

The book is just plain brilliant. I think it’s miss-titled but I can overlook that.  I’d like to own it. In fact, I think I’ll put it on my “this is what I want for my birthday list”.

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One of Our Thursdays is Missing

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I really like the Text Thursday, well this Text Thursday. I liked her so much that I almost hoped she was the REAL Thursday. Which is probably a spoiler right there but I’m pretty sure if you were reading the book before reading this that you knew that wasn’t going to happen. Fforde is crazy but he’s not that kind of crazy because One of Our Thursdays is Missing would really means that one is missing, not that one is no longer in existence or that he pulled a “Bobby Ewing” or anything like that.

I also loved theat NaNoWriMo has a place in BookWorld. And I loved the clown problem(s). Hell I loved the whole book, which is good because I didn’t particularly love, love, love the last Thursday Next novel.

Jasper Fford is a crazy, evil genius – or he does a lot of drugs.

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The Love Goddess’ Cooking School

2011, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, cookbooks, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

TW asked me why I was reading The Love Goddess’ Cooking School, like it wasn’t a book I’d like, or something. Weird because there was nothing about it that I didn’t like. I like food stories. I like a nice piece of chick lit. I like stories with good teen characters. I like stories with a little bit of magic tossed in.

TW said this book was like Sarah Addison Allen – she’s right. But I think it might be more like a cross between Sarah Addison Allen and Adriana Trigiani which means – you should read this one.

I wonder what happens next… sequel, please.

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Four Nancy Drews

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Nancy Drew Challenge /

We spent all day Saturday laying in bed with books. My book(s) of choice were Nancy Drews because they’re the perfect books to read when you’re exhausted. Of The Spider Sapphire, The Invisible Intruder, The Mysterious Mannequin and The Crooked Banister – I liked The Crooked Banister and the Invisible Intruder the best. Lots of robot-y mechanical mysterious making it feel almost steampunk. (Someone should write steampunked Nancy Drews… Cherie Priest maybe?)

The Spider Sapphire was tough to read – Nancy and pals go to Africa… and The Mysterious Mannequin wasn’t a whole lot better because they went off to Turkey. The descriptions of those who are non-white can be tough to read and in these two, there were a lot of them.

I’m running out of Nancy Drews so it’s almost time to start tracking down the Yellow Covers that are missing from my collection. This is going to cost me a lot of money, isn’t it?

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Jeannie Out of the Bottle

2 Comments / 2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

Who knew Barbara Eden had been in so many movies and TV movies and stuff? I mean I knew she was a staple of my childhood but when I think Barbara Eden, I just think Jeannie.  OK I also vividly remember her on Dallas because that was kind of unforgettable. Reading Jeannie Out of the Bottle made me want to go back and watch some of these old movies and stuff.

If you grew up with Jeannie, read the book. It’s fun – except when it’s sad, of course.

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Yummy

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

I almost forgot I’d checked Yummy out from the library – that’s what happens when I hand a book to Elly before I’ve had a chance to read it… another Cybils shortlist graphic novel and this one is excellent. So sad – Robert Sandifer, sad sad sad.  Using a well drawn (and written) graphic novel to tell the story is such a great idea. Love. All kids (and adults) should read it.

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The Absolute Value of -1

2011, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Fiction, Young Adult /

Aye yi yi. The Absolute Value of -1 is what happens when you don’t find out what a book is about before you add it to your reserve list after seeing it mentioned on a blog. I should stop doing that.

Then again, if I had looked  at the Amazon reviews, I wouldn’t have gotten much help – pretty much everyone loves it and nobody bothers to talk about the Suzanne/Simon problem. And oh boy was that a problem.

I don’t get it. Don’t find it believable, not based on the stories told by Lily, Noah, or Simon. Ditch that whole part and would Simon have been the same guy – yea, I think he would have been, which is why I don’t find the Suzanne/Simon attraction believable. The rest of the book (which is really most of it) is excellent.

But dude, Suzanne/Simon – the relationship… told in that way, too weird and just not right. Not at all right. Weird. Weird. Weird.

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